Emma Leigh Waldron

Position Title

Graduate Student in Performance Studies with D.E. in Feminist Theory and Research

Emma Leigh Waldron is a PhD student in the Performance Studies Graduate Group at the University of California, Davis, and Co-Editor-in-Chief at the online journal Analog Game Studies. She holds an MA in Performance Research from the University of Bristol, and a BA in English from Rutgers University. Emma’s research focuses on affective communities that coalesce around intimate performances of touch. She is currently researching the mediated intimacy of ASMR videos on YouTube, and how sex is represented in larp (live-action role-playing games). She is especially interested in how definitions and manifestations of sexuality are negotiated, reified, and transformed through these practices. Her work lies at the intersection of performance studies and media studies, as it questions the role of embodiment in sexuality, intimacy, and touch. Her work is informed by feminist theory, queer theory, affect studies, and phenomenology.